Gov. John Hickenlooper delivers his fifth State of the State address in January to Colorado lawmakers. (Photo By Brent Lewis/The Denver Post)

Gov. John Hickenlooper spent two days to start the week at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) meetings in Washington.

The high-profile conference is rare air for the Democrat who says he is not entertaining thoughts of higher office and is not actively engaged in the geopolitical sphere. AIPAC heard a major speech from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday.

A Hickenlooper spokeswoman said the governor attended at the invitation of AIPAC, in part for his role as chairman of the National Governors Association. The organization also touted his reputation as a bipartisan deal broker.

Hickenlooper spent Sunday in Washington — his second trip to the nation’s capital in recent weeks — and spoke to an energy panel Monday that discussed regulatory frameworks in Colorado, his office said.

His administration recently announced it would depart on a trade mission to Israel next year. Hickenlooper visited Israel in April 2013 on a personal trip.

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper speaks to the media with Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, left, Utah Gov. Gary Herbert, center back, and Hawaii Gov.-elect David Ige, right, during the 2014 National Governors Association seminar for new governors in Westminster in November. (Photo By Brenden Neville / Special to The Denver Post)

Colorado got a mention when President Barack Obama addressed Democratic governors at as part of a National Governors Association winter meeting in Washington.

THE PRESIDENT: Well, I want to welcome the Democratic governors to this meeting and thank them for all the outstanding work that they are doing. I am a little concerned that David Ige, of Hawaii, does not know what to do with this weather. (Laughter.) I don’t even know if he owns a winter coat.

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper at a rally in October 2014. (Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — In a matter of months, the city of Colorado Springs will play host to the greatest concentration of political egos outside Capitol Hill.

The reason: thanks in large part to Gov. John Hickenlooper, Colorado Springs today was named the site of the “first ever” summit of governors and premiers from across North America. The meeting — slated for Oct. 30 and 31 — will include state-level politicians from Canada, Mexico and the U.S., as well as high-ranking ambassadors.

The focus of the meeting will be trade and economic development.

“This summit provides an invaluable opportunity to discuss job creation and develop new economic opportunities that will benefit all three countries in the future,” said Hickenlooper in a statement. “Governors of the United States are committed to providing a meaningful dialogue with our North American partners, and I am honored to host the first of these meetings.”

Hickenlooper chairs the National Governors Association, which functions as a unifying arm of U.S. state governors and was instrumental in organizing the summit.

Few other details of the event were made public. A release touting the event noted the summit will examine “improvements and innovations in infrastructure and supply chain management, education, energy technology and culture.”

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, right, talks with Pennsylvania Gov.-elect Tom Wolf before a session at the National Governors Association meeting Saturday outside Denver. (Photo by Brenden Neville for The Denver Post)

The nation’s governors say they are as fed up as voters with the gridlock in Washington. And they say the message from the 2014 election is clear: do something.

“The onus is on Republicans to govern,” said Utah Gov. Gary Herbert, a Republican and vice-chairman of the National Governors Association. “There are issues out there that need to be addressed that were kicked down the road for way too long and I think they will do themselves a very significant disservice and make it more difficult for them to win the White House in 2016 if they don’t in fact get some things done. They need to find a way to work together.”

The National Governors Association met Saturday at a hotel outside Denver for a seminar designed to help orient the new chief executives and find common ground on a number of issues affecting states. Seven governors-elect attended the meeting at the Westminster Westin and five sitting governors.

Bob Beauprez’s campaign on Tuesday made a big deal of how the GOP nominee for Colorado governor is working “to create a coalition of like-minded governors — in particular Rocky Mountain West governors — to push back against federal encroachment on issues that are properly state concerns.”

The governors Beauprez mentioned in his news release — Louisiana’s Bobby Jindal, Texas’ Rick Perry and Wyoming’s Matt Mead, to name a few — all happen to be Republican governors. No mention is made of the fact that the Democrat Beauprez is trying to unseat, Gov. John Hickenlooper, is chairman of the National Governors Association and has a relationship with many of the nation’s governors, Democrat and Republican.

Beauprez’s campaign noted that the candidate met with Gov. Mead over the weekend — the news release includes a picture of Beauprez and Mead and their spouses at the Denver Post’s Cheyenne Frontier Days BBQ. FYI: Hickenlooper was there, too, and has a good relationship with Mead, as evidenced by a 2011 story about the Frontier Days gathering, when the two governors yukked it up.

“I think John Hickenlooper has a lot of great ideas,” Mead said then. “Plus, I just like the guy.”

Here’s Beauprez’s full press release — and the link to a video from the Colorado Democratic Party “welcoming” New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to Colorado today, where the governor will campaign with Beauprez:

WASHINGTON — Gov. John Hickenlooper said he told President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden Tuesday that he wanted to create a national framework to regulate energy.

And he didn’t need their help.

Hickenlooper said he would like governors to take charge in regulating energy production — much like he did recently with greenhouse gas and methane leaks from drilling. He said he thinks it’s easier for state chiefs to cross party lines than members of Congress or the federal government because they have to do it all the time.

“We think we can get a bunch of states to create a national framework in regulation that would vary from region to region based on differences in geology or geography,” he said. “But each governor is going to want to hold their state to the highest standard. I think every governor, without exception, wants to make it as least onerous … on business. You want to give your businesses every chance to succeed.”

While vague, this is a common message for Hickenlooper when he comes to Washington. Last year, he told a Senate committee that states should regulate hydraulic fracturing — not the Environmental Protection Agency or the federal government.

Gov. John Hickenlooper has another incentive to win re-election next year: the National Governors Association is holding its training program in Colorado after the 2014 election.

The NGA every two years hosts a seminar to assist newly elected governors in their transition from campaigning to governing. It will be held in Westminster the weekend of Nov. 14.

The NGA reports that among the 55 states, territories and commonwealths, there will 39 gubernatorial elections in 2014 with eight open seats. Hickenlooper, a Democrat, is running for a second term. He currently is vice chair of the NGA and will become chairman next July.

The bipartisan seminar in Colorado will features a series of workshops and business sessions in which veteran governors advise governors-elect and their transition teams on a myriad of administrative issues, including: managing the executive budget, shaping a vision for the administration, strategic scheduling and communications, and emergency preparedness (at this point Hickenlooper should be an expert on that latter topic).

At the same time, current governors’ spouses lead sessions with the spouses of governors-elect.

“The Seminar for New Governors is a unique opportunity for current governors to get to know their new colleagues on both sides of the aisle and offer advice in a relaxed setting,” Hickenlooper said in a news release.

It’s not often governors need training to go to their national conference, but Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper took a motorcycle safety course in preparation for the summer meeting in Milwaukee that begins Thursday.

One of National Governors Association events includes a motorcycle ride with the governors and their guests. Milwaukee is where Harley-Davidson was born and where the company has its corporate headquarters.

Gov. John Hickenlooper said he isn't interested in running for president or vice president.

WASHINGTON — Gov. John Hickenlooper has gone out of his way to talk down a whisper campaign that he would be a good 2016 presidential candidate, saying he’s not the type and he’s not a strong enough politician to pull it off.

But Veep?

That doesn’t sound so fun either, he said Monday.

“I like to get my hands in, I like to run stuff, right?” he said at the winter National Governor’s Association meeting in Washington. “I like to build teams and to operate things. The vice president doesn’t have a large portfolio. Now, politically, the vice president has a huge portfolio but I don’t think there are too many people who would say that’s my strong suit … I don’t think I’m that good.”

Hickenlooper said he believes President Obama will win Colorado this fall.

He will support the president, but Hickenlooper stressed that he is still trying to keep his government and his image “a-partisan” as he calls it.

Gov. Bill Ritter is in Washington, D.C., this weekend for the National Governors Association winter meeting, which means there will be a nice big fancy dinner at the White House amid all those meetings.

Expect the mood to be somewhat grim: All states are drowning in budget woes.

Maybe he can get some advice on how to deal with the Republicans in the Colorado legislature from Arizona Gov. Janice Brewer. The Republican governor has proposed going to the voters for a sales-tax increase to try to save education in that state.

As chair of the NGA’s Education, Early Childhood and Workforce Committee, Ritter will lead a discussion about the upcoming reauthorization of the “No Child Left Behind Act.” This meeting will be broadcast live by C-SPAN from 1 to 2:30 p.m. Denver time on Sunday.

At the Obama event at the Fillmore earlier this week, First Lady Jeannie Ritter sounded sentimental about the White House dinner. It will be their last NGA White House gala as Ritter is not running for a second term.

She said she had already gotten her dress which, of course, is vintage Jeannie Ritter because it’s vintage.

Joey Bunch has been a reporter for 28 years, including the last 12 at The Denver Post. For various newspapers he has covered the environment, water issues, politics, civil rights, sports and the casino industry.